REIDSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Three feet long and partial to quail and gopher tortoise eggs, black and white lizards called tegus are not from around here. They hail from Argentina, Paraguy and Brazil. But these invasives have been reported in the wild in south Georgia, where wildlife researchers are trying to eradicate them before they establish themselves.
So far a tegu task force has trapped eight of the lizards in the same area near Reidsville in Tattnall County. The Department of Natural Resources has also documented reports of a tegu road kill in nearby Collins and credible accounts of up to six tegus killed over the last two or three years in Tattnall and adjacent Toombs. Unrelated was another tegu killed in Valdosta in July.
Ripe for spreading
South Georgia is a perfect climate and habitat for tegus, which are sold as pets.
“Their habitat in South America is very similar to the habitat here, they’re from the same latitude, just on the other side (of the equator),” said Lance McBrayer, a biology professor at Georgia Southern University. “They live in edgy, woodland, savanna-type habitat like we have here.”